The Florida House passes

House revises its version to correlate more with Senate’s

a revised version of its medical marijuana rules, but a lot of work remains as the legislative session nears its end.

TALLAHASSEE — The Florida House passed a substantially revised version of its medical marijuana rules Tuesday, bringing them far closer to the Senate plans — and to becoming law.

Bill sponsor state Rep. Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero, said that the changes were made in negotiations with the Senate and that “95 percent” of the bill matches up with the Senate’s provisions.

The legislation — necessary to carry out a constitutional amendment approved by voters in the fall — now heads to the Senate.

“There’s a dueling path we have to walk here,” Rodrigues said. “We have to make it legal and available to Florida residents, but we have to do it within the guidelines of the federal government.”

The House heavily edited its plan, allowing for edibles and vaping of the drug, as the Senate plan does.

It also removed a rule requiring patients to have a 90day relationship with their doctors before those doctors can recommend marijuana as a treatment.

Rodrigues said the final House version will ensure access while making sure medical marijuana in Florida doesn’t become recreational marijuana in all but name.

“What we have would be one of the strictest qualifying standards in the entire country,” he said.

Among the new changes to the bill: Chronic pain is now only covered if it results from a “qualifying medical condition.”

Previously, the language had been “debilitating medical condition,” which could have been a back door to allowing access to medical marijuana for people with medical conditions not covered by the constitutional amendment, officials said.

HB 1397, approved in a 105-9 vote Tuesday, allows patients who suffer chronic pain related to one of 10 qualifying conditions to receive medical marijuana. It also allows patients to visit a doctor once every seven months to receive a prescription for three 70-day supplies.

The previous limit was 90 days total.

The bill, which allows for 17 medical marijuana treatment centers by July 1, 2018, removes the ban on lowTHC use in public, while reducing training requirements and costs for doctors and caregivers.

Florida’s Amendment 2 expanded Florida’s limited medical marijuana law, which previously allowed for noneuphoric strains of pot for cancer, epilepsy and severe muscle spasms, as well as full-strength pot for people with less than a year to live because of terminal illness.

The campaign for the amendment was backed by Orlando trial attorney John Morgan, a Democratic fundraiser who is pondering a run for governor in 2018.

When the Legislature convened in March, there were as many as six plans proposed to carry out the amendment.